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To Laminate, or Not To Laminate?

C

CBilkes

New Member
Hey peeps. I just got my first vinyl job and I'm wondering how necessary it will be to laminate the material. I'm installing gloss adhesive vinyl to an outdoor storage shed door 8'x8'. Do I need to laminate this? Also, what material should I use if I do/don't need to laminate?

Assuming I do need to laminate an outdoor application, here is my next question:
What are some methods for lamination I can use other than purchasing a laminating machine? I plan to eventually, but it's just not in the budget right now. Research I've done has shown a wet application as well as a spray lamination. Any recommendations?

Printing will be done on a Roland SG540.

Thanks for any help.
 
Last edited:
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
You can buy a 51in wide manual laminator for $250 on Amazon, it's much better than hand laminating a film.

The other option is spray or mop on a liquid laminate.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
You could always use a spray laminate. Get a rattle can or two of the stuff and there ya go. Much depends on which way the sign is facing and your geographical location.
 
C

CBilkes

New Member
Gino said:
You could always use a spray laminate. Get a rattle can or two of the stuff and there ya go. Much depends on which way the sign is facing and your geographical location.
Click to expand...

Do you have any recommendations on what type of spray and where I can purchase it? Thanks!
 
H

henryz

New Member
You can do wet lam, you will need 2 people but it shouldn't take more than 5 min. Use a large window squeegee to lay it flat then a silkscreen squeegee to finish it. After a few of these you can buy a Seal laminator.
 
C

CBilkes

New Member
henryz said:
You can do wet lam, you will need 2 people but it shouldn't take more than 5 min. Use a large window squeegee to lay it flat then a silkscreen squeegee to finish it. After a few of these you can buy a Seal laminator.
Click to expand...

I'm kinda interested in trying this out. Is there a good tutorial video you know of? Also, what solution is used for a wet lam process?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
CBilkes said:
Do you have any recommendations on what type of spray and where I can purchase it? Thanks!
Click to expand...


Just about any sign supply distributor. It comes liquid or spray. An 8x8 is not all that big to spray. Take maybe 10 minutes to spray all in one direction, wait 15 minutes and spray perpendicular to the first pattern. Let it air dry for an hour or two, before you play with it.
 
C

CBilkes

New Member
Gino said:
Just about any sign supply distributor. It comes liquid or spray. An 8x8 is not all that big to spray. Take maybe 10 minutes to spray all in one direction, wait 15 minutes and spray perpendicular to the first pattern. Let it air dry for an hour or two, before you play with it.
Click to expand...

How durable is a liquid laminate when used on a piece with multiple cuts? The storage shed door I'm installing the vinyl on has many 3" horizontal panels that will require a lot of splitting and sinking. I just want to make sure the lam won't flake off with all of these cuts.

After researching some products, it looks like its a toss up between Frog Juice and Clearshield. Do you guys have any experience or preference between the two?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Have both on the shelves here. Both will get good reviews and some bad reviews. All depends on how well the people using it..... uses it. You can get an extra year or 18 months outta spray. About the same as rigid lam. Liquid will do even better. Again, do it correctly and it will last. We rigid lam more things than not, but the sprays are great for those little incidental things.
 
M

Mascitti Bro

New Member
CBilkes said:
Hey peeps. I just got my first vinyl job and I'm wondering how necessary it will be to laminate the material. I'm installing gloss adhesive vinyl to an outdoor storage shed door 8'x8'. Do I need to laminate this? Also, what material should I use if I do/don't need to laminate?

Assuming I do need to laminate an outdoor application, here is my next question:
What are some methods for lamination I can use other than purchasing a laminating machine? I plan to eventually, but it's just not in the budget right now. Research I've done has shown a wet application as well as a spray lamination. Any recommendations?

Printing will be done on a Roland SG540.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Being new to the print-side of things earlier this year, I had the same questions. I found that the laminate part of the process is very important, adding soooo much more durability to your work, etc. (also, anything not laminated will have the ink run off it almost immediately after wiping it down with anything stronger than a wet paper towel.) Bottom line- it was an unplanned expense, but you gotta do it or your wasting yours and customers time/money. Good luck...
 
MikePro

MikePro

New Member
if you don't have a laminator, then don't bother. ....eventually, you'll see why a laminator will be a necessary addition to your business if you wish to continue down this road.

if you do manage to apply your graphic, without ruining your unlaminated print, and wish to finish it for durability....then any clear poly should do. same method as clear coating a painted finish. scuff/clean/spray or roll/pray.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
not to stte the ovviou, a laminator can be a mjor expense.
i got 2 of mine (seal 44" & daige 38" from craigslist & ebay)

i wish the seal was a 54"
 
O

OPENSignsInc.

New Member
I'd recomend getting a laminator (see if you can lease one). We still got our 44in ledco signmaster from when we had our Summa DC3. Then when we got our 1st mimaki (jv33-130), but before we got our gfp 455th, we would use frog juice or clearshield. Frog juice was better but was more expensive & finicky to apply. The downsides with wet lams is drytime taking up table space (we usually did it at the end of the day so it wasn't in the way) & you got to be careful with dust and bugs getting stuck. We usually used a foam roller and drug it across the frog juice with a screw in it to keep it from rolling.
 
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